Smallworld expansions comparison and review

Today I am comparing the various expansions for Smallworld. These include "Be not afraid" "Grand Dames of Smallworld" "Cursed" "Tales and Legends" and finally"Smallworld Realms." I'm not going to compare Smallworld Underground today because a) it's a stand alone game and b) I still don't own it.

The expansion Be Not Afraid was the first expansion we picked up. The rationale for us was that it included a tray to hold the all the expansion races. There are a lot of extra pieces in the expansions so you will need to get this if you plan on carting around your game to game nights or purely for ease of storage. In terms of races the most interesting for me are the Homunculi who's special power is if they are bypassed in selection add a coin and an extra race token for when they are eventually picked. I also like the barbarians and the pixies for their high numbers. The pygmies have an awesome racial ability where if a token is returned to the tray roll the die and take as many tokens back as rolled. So one killed Pygmy could become three returned to you. For special powers everyone loves to get corrupt. Whenever someone successfully conquers your region they pay you one victory coin. The other powers are fairly standard and fit well in to play with the exception of catapult. The description seems to confuse a lot of players and leads to arguments over it's use. The expansion also includes one blank each of race and power badges. Great for making up home brewed additions. I would recommend this expansion for the interesting races and if you are wanting to purchase multiple expansions, as you will need the storage tray.

The Grand Dames of Smallworld expansion is one of the popular expansions at our table. Smallworld is rather male dominated with the Amazons being the only female depicted race in the core game and the ladies are represented well in this expansion. There are three female races included. The most popular race are the gypsies, who gain victory points for each region they abandon on a turn. The white ladies power of being immune to attack and other races powers while in decline is fantastic for various tactical reasons. The priestesses are also great for their in decline power of creating a powerful white tower in a single region. The two powers are interesting. Peace-Loving who gain more coins for not attacking active races can  blend strangely with certain races (I'm thinking Orcs here.) Historian is fun for later turns when races start to go in decline as this power collects victory coins for declining races. This pack also includes one blank power badge for more home brewed creations. I wish this one included some less "pretty" races like harpies or some such and the gypsies tokens are a little too close to the Amazon tokens in colour and art making them hard to distinguish at times. Still I recommend this expansion for the cool racial powers and three solid races.

Cursed is on of my favourite expansions. This expansion is highlighted by the 5 amazing powers. Cursed, which this expansion is named for is such an interesting power. It gives zero extra units however when it gets passed over a player must pay three victory coins. The sheer volume of coinage eventually becomes irresistible. Marauding is a game changing power that lets you expand twice in one turn. Hordes of is a neat power that adds two extra hordes tokens to your racial tokens. "Were-" changes the power level on even numbered turns. My brother got Were-Pixies once and conquered half the board on turn two. Ransacking forces players to pay you when you conquer their active races. The two races included are Goblins which attack in decline races with one less token (very useful later in the game) and Kobolds who are numerous but need to keep two tokens in any region they occupy. Defensively great but rather mediocre in my opinion. The expansion includes one each of power and race badges for yet more home brewed fun. This is my favourite expansion and I think it gives the most expansion for dollar value among the smaller expansions. I recommend Cursed to all player groups.

Tales and Legends is a game changing expansion. There are no races or powers. This expansion adds a new rule set. Before the game starts chose one of 6 themes (or mix and match) and shuffle those cards. Each turn after the first a new tales card is drawn. This card changes a game for that turn.  These cards vary in effect from "little lore" such as "tremor" which causes each invasion to require one more token, to "tall tales" such as "Ice age" which prevents mountains from being conquered, to the most game changing "lordly legends" such as "handle with care" which causes 2 race tokens to be discarded (elves one) when conquered instead of the usual 1. While I do really like the game changing nature of this expansion it can make the game more confusing for novice players. I suggest only getting this once every player is completely comfortable with the core game. It's fun and definitely increases the challenge factor for Smallworld. I recommend this expansion for veteran players who would like to increase their challenge level.

Smallworld realms is the biggest (and most expensive) expansion to the game. This expansion works with both the regular core Smallworld and the Smallworld Underground game. In fact it includes Tunnel pieces to incorporate the two. This expansion is a scenario set up and map creating dream. It is full of double sided tiles, one side for core Smallworld map art and the other side is Underground art. With these tiles you can decide what the map should look like. There is a book with pre-made scenarios and maps to use or you can create your own. There are 8 miscellaneous tokens such as a rusted throne or a crystal skull which can be assigned some form of significant role in the scenarios. For example: the player who holds the rusted throne receives one victory coin of tribute from each player on their turn. There are victory coin mines which increase a territories value by +1. There are also peaks tiles which are taller than mountains and need +2 units to conquer or chasms which cannot be conquered. This expansion does increase setup time but it also changes the game enough to keep it interesting for your players. I really enjoy this expansion. I recommend Realms to any group who would like some variation to the map or enjoy creating their own scenarios to play through.

To sum up there are quite a few expansions to Smallworld and each has it's merit for players. "Realms" for any group wishing to change up the map and create custom scenarios, "Tales and Legends" for veteran groups looking to increase the challenge level of the game, "Dames" for a handful of interesting new races and powers, "Cursed" for any group looking to add variety to the races and powers in the game, and "Be Not Afraid" for more storage and a host of powers and races to include in your Smallworld.

Check back next week when I review the Edmonton Entertainment and Comic Expo (EECE) or join me as tickets are still available here